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The Moodies do the Pacific Northwest, July 2007

"The Banana Tour" (for lack of a more catchy title........)

Chapter 1

Maybe fools like me are under your spell….

This Moody journey begins on the Fourth of July, at my brother’s house. That story was told elsewhere, and no one but my family will be interested anyway. Now that the twins (great niece and nephew) weigh 35 lbs apiece, I finally got to lug them around a bit, as everyone else was worn out! The Fourth was tons of fun, there were illegal fireworks everywhere, and a lot of drunks running around, that’s for sure! (on the roads too, scary). I got up really early on the 5th and snuck out my brother’s door before they could make me stay with a good breakfast… got it at McDonald’s instead (they do make a pretty good Egg McMuffin, can’t beat it). I ate a lot of Whoppers and Egg McMuffins on the road, and once had the good fortune to wheel into Carl’s Jr, which is thankfully making it’s way north. My fave hamburger joint in the whole world! Anyway these are the things we do to "get there early and line sit" whch was my mission for the day.

It’s further to Medford from Portland than I remembered, I guess this is the part of the road where you sleep or slip into altered states of Reality. It is very pretty though, south of Eugene. Lots of trees, and nice views. The Britt Festival has been very good about keeping me up with their coming attractions (e.g. junk mail), so I had a good map to navigate into Jacksonville from I-5 right after Grant’s Pass. (I survived the scary downgrade right before you get into town)

I overshot the first road to Jacksonville, picked up the second one (the Old Stage Road, picturesquely) It wound through lovely horse ranches and such. THEN just outside Jacksonville, something light flew in the window and smacked me in the face! Ack was that a bug? I brushed my hair, hoping it would go onward. NO sure enough in a few moments, I felt that nasty little stinger slip into my back! OUCH, I pulled over, and shook, brushed. It was in a place you can’t get to, under my right shoulder. The bee fell out of my clothes, the poor little thing mangled, as happens after they sting. It was a real live honey bee! (no hive collapse here) Thankfully I was only awarded a little round welt about the size of a dime and the pain stopped within the hour, no allergies. The bee came off much worse. People wreck cars that way.

Did I say the weather was wonderful and clear? It was, I had to really pour on the sunscreen (Banana Boat). It was really nice having been to Jacksonville in years prior, I wheeled right into a good parking spot, and hiked up Britt Hill to the place wherein the Dedicated were encamped in lawn chairs. There were tons of middle schoolers too, they make up to $65 line sitting! Wow! Great summer jobs. I hadn’t been there very long, when I was accosted by a nice lady in a wonderful long tie-dye dress. Vic Kelly! She is looking great, brought along her son (early 20’s) who is an equilarian and quite amusing. We talked quite a bit, she is into the Missing and Exploited children thing, and I got to hear some stories about the Tommy Foundation show the Moodies had done there (I think I was in Lake Havasu when this all went down, so I missed it.) I sorta dissed her in front of some other Moody fans though, and I must email her and apologize, but I always try to fly under the radar with my email ID on news groups. I’ve been kicked off Lost Chords too many times, and still don’t know who was tagging me as SPAM. (Turkeys, remember Karma is a bad thing to tempt).

They came around with numbers finally, and only the first 50 people got orange tickets (I was #41). We could then go eat or run to our cars and be assured of a place in line. That worked out nice, even though my line neighbors were good sorts. and would save my place. Some people DID try to line jump, and they were asked to go to the end of the line. My heart was not broken, I put in work on line sitting, had been there since 1 pm, and I EARNED my good spot up front!

From what I picked up about On line, most of the "regulars" the obsessed are on Moodybluestoday.com, which is a membership group run by Good Works Ventures. I’ve had my run in with those guys, so I avoid them; besides they charge $35/year, and I still hold that Moodies information should be free [like The Koran]. The other group that has a lot of on-line activity now is eternityroadnow.com or some variation of that. And it’s free. I barely have time for Lost Chords myself. I finally found the free site for Moody news, and found a lot of good articles posted there, as well as some socializing, it's a typical "ezboard" set up. >>>>>Traveling Eternity Road.<<<<< cheers......

Anyway one of the gals Vic was chatting with was the far traveling Maggie Clarke, and so the subject of volcanoes came up. I tried to tell her the story about Sisters, The Husband and Mt. Bachelor, but she didn’t get it. I thought it was very funny to find five volcanoes named thus so close to each other, it really begged a story or a joke. Maggie didn’t get it. So I didn’t stick around that bunch, but went back to sit in line with the other folks I met, they were much more fun. Gary from Grant’s Pass was there too, he was a real live wire. I met him years ago at a Santa Barbara show.

One of them was a nerd who was trying to pick me up I think. He insisted on telling me Moody trivia stories. Most I had heard or started myself. He did tell me a few times about seeing them in the old days, so I was ok with that. Anyway I couldn’t shake this guy, he insisted on sitting right next to me! (a good seat too). Argh

The nice things that happen: a woman came up to me "Christie!" it was Sarah Bronson! Man I hadn’t seen her for about 10 years, since I stopped doing the Lake Tahoe shows. She has moved out of the Sierras, and lived there near Jacksonville, had been to the Tommy Foundation shows, and loved it where she was! She wasn’t mad at all for me stealing her foxy boyfriend (we both kicked him out eventually, a Dead Head and dedicated doper. Never mind, that is one less story to tell). Two other old friends from the Moody Bitches were there, Barb and Debbie Lyman. Debbie is a pretty blonde that always gets some winks from Justin, and Barb is our International Woman of mystery, very nice gracious lady. So we all got some talking in, and I got their emails, and will try and stay in contact with them. They don’t do on-line groups at all (the Moody Bitches always DID fly under the radar), so it just proves many of the Moody Faithful are NOT on line. (Just as obsessed though, the Moody Bitches encamped outside the bands rooms in the early 90’s, doing the stalker routine. We were horrible in Tahoe a few times).

Sarah had a beautiful young lady in tow, decked out in Hippy Chic. A lot of other young hippy lovelies were there wearing sarongs, floppy hats and gorgeous beads, Jacksonville seems to be a center for country hippies and their offspring.

People with their front row seats kept coming over to where we had our blankets, and were dismayed to find we blanket people had better seats than their reserves! We were all pretty cooked after sitting out there in that sun, it’s so unusual for us PacNorthwesterners. The staff passed out cute little fans (I had to use mine again at Chateau St Michelle, came in handy!) Not too many rude folks this time. Some drunks behind me at the Britt were loud, and didn’t even offer me any of their wine! Some things hadn’t changed, the same "Buddha" guard was still there as security, that guy had some awesome tattoos! I got pretty much right in front of the stage (sitting on snakes!) on the left side where I can see Justin’s fret work. THAT is very worth watching, at some point I start sorting out all the sounds in the mix, and it’s nice to match up Justin’s hands to the sound.

To the show! The set was white cargo nets hung over the pipes they use for rigging lights, and each night it’s just a little different, but similar, depending on the venue. The blue lights shine up the white cargo nets, making a very effective set, simple and utilitarian. (I wish you could get this KISS principle through the dense heads of some High School set designers I’ve met). Gordon and Graeme were in Plexiglas boxes. No drum stick toss any nights <sad face> but they did fake one toss, which I missed (Graeme held up the stick like he’d caught it after Gordon faked a toss!)

When they came out on stage, I was dismayed. It looked like Gravity was winning the battle with all of them! ARGH. The first song got going……….. Like dragging a dead elephant. Justin was very pale (heheh he tanned up by Seattle tho). Then glory be……. Justin, after about two or three songs "came to" like a head of wilted lettuce in a bucket of cold water, for "Never Comes the Day". He perked up, he smiled. Man, when Justin smiles, it’s a wonderful show indeed………… I thought I was unhooked from all that Moody obsession stuff, and now I’m right back under That Man’s Spell.

Justin was so loose this time, very friendly, he made a quip about walking around town and how "everyone lives in little houses" LOL. Jacksonville is a "cute little town" that caters to tourists, a bit like old time Knott’s Berry Farm, so he was probably having some fun with the crowd. In the first song, Justin looked over my way, squinted, and I swear, a spark of BLUE light slipped out of his eyes, like the Big Kahuna that he is. Yeah I know it was just the stage lights, but I was a Believer after that.

Someone tried to hand Justin a Corona at Intermission. Something large flew at the stage, looked like a lunar moth! I really love this place, it’s low and everyone is right there, best front row seats ever! One lusty lady was headed to jumping on the stage (not a far leap at all, it was very low and intimate) and security had to whack her back! (she looked harmless, but you never know. they were nice thank God she was right in front of us). Some kids center front were spraying mist on everyone, including Justin and microphones. (It was very very hot).

The thought is that they spent the 4th in Jacksonville (Justin mentioned walking around town) or so Sarah claimed, and she is usually right on with her Moody rumors. The new singer (in Bernie's old slot) is Julie Regins. She has a wonderful voice! (same level as Tracy's but more mellow: less training, Tracy had a very trained warble to her voice). A light tech missed one of Justin's spotlights, and I heard a few off-key notes, but otherwise it was a perfect show.

When Graeme came down to do his patter to lead into "Higher and Higher" he kinda rambled something about "Justin wrote ‘December Snow’ for my snow white hair" yeah there was a joke there somewhere, but it didn’t come out right. Justin threw it right back when he introduced "Are You Sitting Comfortably" looked back at Graeme and said "I DID write this one for you!". Justin’s humor can be delayed. In the UK "to sit" is a euphemism for……… well here we call it going to the "library" with a magazine in your hand!

I grew to love "December Snow" over the course of the four shows I saw, drove down the road humming it, and sang it through grocery stores. I wasn’t overly impressed in Vegas with it in 2005, when I last saw them, but it has really picked up as a live performance since then. Norda does a fluttering intro to it on her flute, and Justin seems to be continually doodling with the arrangement or his guitar portion. It sounds a little like "Blue Guitar" doesn’t it?

The band arrived in vans, and departed in same, and I missed them both times, though I heard wild cheers go up. I talked with my three friends, for a while, and then staggered off to find my hotel for the night. I stayed in an OLD motel in Medford, renovated into a Days Inn, the outside stairwell to the third floor was scary, but the shower was wonderful, it was cheap, and I slept well, needing the bath and solitude.